Category Archives: History

In 1885, an elderly Scottish woman decided to bury her cat, Tom, in a nearby cemetery. Though the decision might not seem controversial to us, it caused a riot in Edinburg. The woman, hoping for a “decent burial” for Tom, … Continue reading →

I always enjoy writing about cats and dogs, but I had an especially good time covering this story on ancient dog poop for Science last week. Here’s the gist: A team of molecular archaeologists (cool job!) had spent six years collecting ancient … Continue reading →

As we all deal with the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, I’ve been reminded of another plague: The Black Death, the most devastating pandemic the world has ever seen. By some estimates, as much as half of Europe’s population perished, and more … Continue reading →

Much of dog domestication is still shrouded in mystery. We don’t know where dogs first evolved, for example, or even when this happened. So we’ve filled these blank pages with a lot of speculation. Early dogs must have been working … Continue reading →

Dogs remain one of the biggest mysteries of domestication. Despite decades of research, we still don’t know where they came from–or even when they arose. But a couple of new studies are shedding light on when our relationship with dogs … Continue reading →

Humans domesticated dogs somewhere between 15,000 and 30,000 years ago. But although today’s dogs are family members, service animals, and war vets, we know little about man’s early relationship with canines. Now a new finding is providing a window into … Continue reading →

If you think cats came from Egypt, you’re both about a decade out of touch as well as eerily prescient. For years, historians believed that cats were domesticated in ancient Egypt. The thinking made sense: The felines are omnipresent in … Continue reading →

Scientists still haven’t figured out when–or even where–dogs were domesticated, but they’re getting a bit closer to understanding why they were domesticated in the first place. A new study published this month in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports suggests that humans were … Continue reading →

One of the most common assumptions about early dogs is that they were our hunting companions. Soon after they were domesticated–or perhaps the very reason they were domesticated in the first place–dogs helped us survive by tracking down and attacking … Continue reading →

In 2013, I wrote about the idea that the rise of the housecat was inevitable. A study had just come out indicating that cats were domesticated in China 5,000 years ago. If true, this would have represented a second domestication … Continue reading →